The Snuffles

Plaintive wails from this part of Devon as I appear to be getting my first cold for several years. I have been shovelling drugs down my throat, sadly not the recreational sort, but filthy tasting anti cold stuff.

However London was great. The flat we borrowed is slap bang in the middle of Covent Garden and very charming. I managed to get Chas to go on the train which it has to be said was frightful and severely overcrowded. The first night we went to Lucia di Lammermoor at the Coliseum which was quite good but not stunning. The production did not pack the emotional punch you might have expected although the tenor and soprano voices were lovely if a bit small. The nasty laird bloke had a nice voice but his diction was awful, strangled r sounds. The theatre was way too hot and we had to have words with the management who let some air in for the third act which was a welcome relief. The next day we toddled off to the Tate in the old Bankside Power Station. The latest art work is this whacking great crack that runs the length of the whole turbine hall. Honestly, it is rather good when you see it. We were heading for the ManRay, Duchamp, Picabia exhibition  -they were three key figures in the history of modernism -it was terrific. We met up with Tom and Matt for lunch on the 7th floor. Matt was suffering from an excess of drink and dodgy Mexican food and had to leave early having been sick on an escalator. The rest of us tucked into plates of meze and drank copious amounts of fizzy water. Then back to the flat where Alex, his girlfriend, Chas’s sister Ros, her partner and their friends were coming for drinks. Then it was off to the Wyndham Theatre and The History Boys. I thought the play was very good but the theatre was so hot we were all running with sweat. More words, harsher this time, with the management.

Finally our last blast of culture was the ‘From Russia’ exhibition at the Royal Academy. There was a wonderful Picasso and a Braque I fell in love with. It was nice to see the Cezannes, Gaugins and Monets that normally live in Russia as I don’t suppose we will get over there. The exhibition appeared to be very crowded but once you got past the first room, it wasn’t too bad at all. We went round three times just to have another gawp at our favourites. I have returned loaded down with books from gallery shops to read.

Fortnum and Masons was open even though it was Sunday so we went there for lunch and to gaze at extraordinarily expensive household stuff and fine wine. I bought some Easter eggs, so beautifully wrapped, as a present for the friends who own the flat. Trying to get back to work on Monday was extraordinarily difficult, Chas hoovered the office for ages bfore he could bring himself to open his emails.